My books have been stolen by Meta
Children have been harmed by this process
WHAT?!!
I have just found three of my titles listed in the pirated-books databank known as LibGen. And if that isn’t upsetting enough, it turns out the Meta Corporation (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram) have used them to train their AI machine, Llama.
“LibGen is one of the most notorious online shadow libraries of pirated works so it is truly appalling and shocking that a major company like Meta would use such unlawful data set to develop their models.:
Pers. comm, Society of Authors, March 2025
The Atlantic says that court documents show that staff at Meta discussed licensing books and research papers lawfully but instead chose to use stolen work because it was faster and cheaper. Given that Meta Platforms, Inc, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has a market capitalisation of £1.147 trillion, this is appalling behaviour.” (Society of Authors Press release, March 24, 2025.)
HOW
It’s impossible to know how my titles were pirated. LibGen has many contributors based in many regions. Perhaps the pirates actually bought a copy and digitally scanned it? But the fact that even the title I self-published in 2024 appears in the pirated databank seems to indicate that this latest security breach lies with one of the many platforms where the ebook is available for purchase. How do I even begin to tackle this?!
I FEEL OUTRAGED AND HELPLESS
It’s not that I don’t believe in sharing knowledge. My mentors, the San, have freely shared their ecological, botanical and spiritual expertise for millennia. But my Kalahari kids have been robbed of the possibility of having their own stories published one day. Having learned on my/our material, AI will now be able to write those Kalahari stories far more easily than the kids ever will.
The goal of [generative-AI companies such as Meta] is to absorb the work into profitable technology products that compete with the originals.
Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, March 2025.
Grrrr!!! I may as well get AI to finish Koba book number 3. The machines are obviously able to reproduce my style now.
WHAT TO DO
I will be deleting my accounts on Facebook and Instagram (as soon as I’ve done protesting there) and urge other authors to join the boycott.
I have contacted the Society of Authors and joined actions there.
I have written to my local MP expressing concern over this government’s intent to make the UK an AI data haven.
Finally, I have written to Mark Zuckerberg, but of course, I don’t expect a reply.
If you know of a writer (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, academic papers, blogger or web content writer) please share this post. They are likely to find their works have been pirated too and may want to take their own actions. I’ll be happy to share what I have learned.
Oh no!!! Absolute insanity.
I have heard from others who had books pirated by Meta. I stopped posting to FB and to Instagram because of that. But I didn't think to cancel my account.